In article <pan.2006.09.16.19.07.07.595615@remove.this.yahoo. co.uk>,
Jules <julesrichardsonuk@remove.this.yahoo.co.uk> writes:
>
> Not sure if this is the best group, but I don't know if anyone in a
> US-based group would know either :-)
uk.telecom.mobile would be better, copied.
> I'd always thought that to use a UK mobile in the US, all I needed was one
> that was capable of working with the US system. I picked up a Nokia 6230 a
> while back, and it does indeed sort-of work...
>
> I was able to hook up to a network in Minneapolis OK, but when I go
> further afield I find that the phone's incapable of contacting a
> network (and consequently drains the battery within a few hours)
No network should give you longer battery life, since the phone
won't be transmitting.
> I don't think it's an analogue problem - the missus (who has a US phone)
> has no trouble getting a digital connection to the local network (unicell
> in her case, although I believe a couple of the other big operators should
> have service around here too).
>
> This begs the question - do some US mobile service providers refuse
> to allow roaming (or perhaps, refuse to allow roaming for non-US phones)
> and only let their own customers use their network?
They need to have a roaming agreement with your network. Generally
there's no problem in areas with large numbers of visitors such
as the east and west coasts. I don't know anything about Minneapolis.
Try manual network selection, and see if you can see any networks.
If you can, try explicitly connecting to them one by one, and see
if any of them will accept you. That should narrow down if the
problem is no networks matching your phone's bands (a tri-band
phone I believe), or none of the networks have roaming agreements
with your UK network. The 1900MHz band your phone has which is
most likely to work in the US doesn't have the same range as the
900MHz band, and there are probably no 1900MHz transmitters out
in the sticks. US still use analogue bands for areas a long way
out of town, but your phone has no analogue support.
Thus spaketh Andrew Gabriel:
> In article <pan.2006.09.16.19.07.07.595615@remove.this.yahoo. co.uk>,
> Jules <julesrichardsonuk@remove.this.yahoo.co.uk> writes:
>>
>> Not sure if this is the best group, but I don't know if anyone in a
>> US-based group would know either :-)
>
> uk.telecom.mobile would be better, copied.
>
>> I'd always thought that to use a UK mobile in the US, all I needed
>> was one that was capable of working with the US system. I picked up
>> a Nokia 6230 a while back, and it does indeed sort-of work...
>>
>> I was able to hook up to a network in Minneapolis OK, but when I go
>> further afield I find that the phone's incapable of contacting a
>> network (and consequently drains the battery within a few hours)
>
> No network should give you longer battery life, since the phone
> won't be transmitting.
When you have no signal or very ropey signal it will use the battery
more, as it keeps trying to log onto a network, this is why for example
the battery may last longer when roaming in Spain, as you can use any of
the networks and use one with the stronger signal, yet back home you
maybe in a patchy signal area so the battery will drain quicker.
>
>> I don't think it's an analogue problem - the missus (who has a US
>> phone) has no trouble getting a digital connection to the local
>> network (unicell in her case, although I believe a couple of the
>> other big operators should have service around here too).
>>
>> This begs the question - do some US mobile service providers refuse
>> to allow roaming (or perhaps, refuse to allow roaming for non-US
>> phones) and only let their own customers use their network?
>
> They need to have a roaming agreement with your network. Generally
> there's no problem in areas with large numbers of visitors such
> as the east and west coasts. I don't know anything about Minneapolis.
> Try manual network selection, and see if you can see any networks.
> If you can, try explicitly connecting to them one by one, and see
> if any of them will accept you. That should narrow down if the
> problem is no networks matching your phone's bands (a tri-band
> phone I believe), or none of the networks have roaming agreements
> with your UK network. The 1900MHz band your phone has which is
> most likely to work in the US doesn't have the same range as the
> 900MHz band, and there are probably no 1900MHz transmitters out
> in the sticks. US still use analogue bands for areas a long way
> out of town, but your phone has no analogue support.
It could be due to the fact they only have a tri-band phone, and the
area they can't get signal in is in the other band, so a Quad-band phone
would work.
The USA were late in using GSM, so was unable to use the two frequencies
virtually everywhere else in the world uses.
On 2006-09-16, Andrew Gabriel <andrew@cucumber.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> In article <pan.2006.09.16.19.07.07.595615@remove.this.yahoo. co.uk>,
> Jules <julesrichardsonuk@remove.this.yahoo.co.uk> writes:
>> I don't think it's an analogue problem - the missus (who has a US phone)
>> has no trouble getting a digital connection to the local network (unicell
>> in her case, although I believe a couple of the other big operators should
>> have service around here too).
>>
>> This begs the question - do some US mobile service providers refuse
>> to allow roaming (or perhaps, refuse to allow roaming for non-US phones)
>> and only let their own customers use their network?
[...]
> If you can, try explicitly connecting to them one by one, and see
> if any of them will accept you. That should narrow down if the
> problem is no networks matching your phone's bands (a tri-band
> phone I believe), or none of the networks have roaming agreements
> with your UK network. The 1900MHz band your phone has which is
> most likely to work in the US doesn't have the same range as the
> 900MHz band, and there are probably no 1900MHz transmitters out
> in the sticks. US still use analogue bands for areas a long way
> out of town, but your phone has no analogue support.
The most likely problem is the lack of support for the 850 MHz band
on the phone. In the US GSM services operate in both the 850 MHz and
the 1900 MHz bands. In and around urban areas in the US you can count
on getting 1900 MHz service, but in rural areas it is frequently the
case that the only GSM provider available operates at 850 MHz (as
you point out for 900 MHz, it is a bit cheaper to provide coverage to
large, sparsely populated areas at 850 MHz than at 1900 MHz).
The best way to tell where in the US a 1900 MHz-only GSM phone will work
and where it won't is to look at
T-Mobile in the US operates exclusively in the 1900 MHz band, but
their domestic roaming partners run in both bands. Looking at their
coverage in Minnesota (MN), much of the northern and western parts of
the state are listed as "850 MHz roaming".
If you are travelling outside the cities in the US and need your
phone to work, a quad-band phone is a good investment.
On Sat, 16 Sep 2006 21:32:53 +0000, Dennis Ferguson wrote:
> The best way to tell where in the US a 1900 MHz-only GSM phone will work
> and where it won't is to look at
>
> http://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/
>
> T-Mobile in the US operates exclusively in the 1900 MHz band, but
> their domestic roaming partners run in both bands. Looking at their
> coverage in Minnesota (MN), much of the northern and western parts of
> the state are listed as "850 MHz roaming".
>
Thanks for that (and to everyone else for the useful replies!). It was
t-mobile that my phone managed to hook up to in Minneapolis,
coinidentally.
Certainly the theory about it being 850MHz up here sounds logical (there's
about 11,000 people in town here, but we're the biggest place by far for
200 miles in any direction)
I'll try manual network selection just in case. Annoyingly, most people
here use phones that don't take SIM cards, so I can't just easily find a
working phone and transplant my SIM into it.
On Sat, 16 Sep 2006 20:13:49 +0000, {{{{{Welcome}}}}} wrote:
>> No network should give you longer battery life, since the phone
>> won't be transmitting.
>
> When you have no signal or very ropey signal it will use the battery
> more, as it keeps trying to log onto a network,
That was always my understanding, too, but I could easily be wrong :-)
Certainly I was happily getting a week between charges out of the phone
back in the UK, but since landing (and being out in the sticks) it's
dropped dramatically.
Jules wrote:
> Certainly I was happily getting a week between charges out of the phone
> back in the UK, but since landing (and being out in the sticks) it's
> dropped dramatically.
> That, or the airport's x-ray machines killed it
Or the charger isn't dual-voltage and is unhappy on the lower mains voltage?
> I'll try manual network selection just in case. Annoyingly, most people
> here use phones that don't take SIM cards, so I can't just easily find a
> working phone and transplant my SIM into it.
I think it's the CDMA phones that don't use SIM cards.
> Jules wrote:
>
>
>>I'll try manual network selection just in case. Annoyingly, most people
>>here use phones that don't take SIM cards, so I can't just easily find a
>>working phone and transplant my SIM into it.
>
>
> I think it's the CDMA phones that don't use SIM cards.
>
And TDMA.
Re: UK mobile in the US? 
Linear Mode
